UNIT 6, CH 18

Industrialization reshaped Americans’ identities, beliefs, and culture by transforming how people worked, lived, and understood their place in society. Rapid urban growth and new technologies encouraged faith in progress and efficiency, while also creating harsh working conditions that inspired reform movements like the Social Gospel, temperance, and women’s suffrage. Scientific ideas such as natural selection influenced social thought, sometimes leading to harmful beliefs like Social Darwinism and eugenics. At the same time, industrialization fueled cultural responses in literature and religion, including realism, modernism, and fundamentalism, as Americans debated tradition versus change. Together, these developments reflected a society adapting—often contentiously—to the promises and problems of an industrial age.

Thomas Edison

American inventor and businessman who developed technologies such as the electric light bulb and the phograph, helping drive industrial growth

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal”

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)

organization that promoted Christian values, physical fitness, and social programs for young men in urban areas

Negr* Leagues

professional baseball leagues formed because African Americans were excluded from Major League Baseball

John Muir

naturalist and preservationist who advocated for protecting wilderness and helped inspire the national park movement

Sierra Club

environmental organization founded to promote conservation of natural landscapes

National Park Service

federal agency created to manage and protect national parks and monuments

National Audubon Society

organization dedicated to the conservation of birds and natural habitats

Comstock Act

federal law that banned the distribution of obscene materials, including birth control information

Liberal arts

broad field of study emphasizing humanities, sciences, and critical thinking rather than vocational training

Booker T. Washington

African American educator who promoted vocational education and economic self-reliance for Black Americans

Atlanta Compromise

Washington’s 1895 speech advocating acceptance of segregation in exchange for economic opportunities for African Americans

Maternalism

belief that women’s moral authority as mothers justified their involvement in social reform

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

women-led organization that campaigned against alcohol and supported social reforms

Frances Willard

leader of the WCTU who linked temperance to women’s rights and suffrage

National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

organization that worked to improve conditions for African American women and communities

Ida B. Wells

journalist and activist who led the anti-lynching movement and advocated for civil rights

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

organization focused on securing women’s right to vote through state and federal reforms

feminism

movement advocating political, social, and economic equality for women

Natural selection

process by which organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce

Social Darwinism

belief that Darwin’s ideas about evolution justified economic inequality and social hierarchy

eugenics

movement that promoted selective breeding to improve human populations, often used to justify racism and discrimination

realism

literary and artistic movement that focused on everyday life and ordinary people

Naturalism

literary movement emphasizing how environment and heredity shape human behavior

Mark Twain

writer known for realistic and critical portrayals of American society

Modernism

cultural movement that rejected traditional values and experimented with new forms of expression

American Protective Association

nativist organization that opposed Catholic immigration and influence

Social Gospel

religious movement that applied Christian ethics to social problems like poverty and inequality

fundamentalism

religious movement emphasizing strict adherence to traditional Christian beliefs and biblical literalism

Billy Sunday

popular evangelist who promoted revivalism and moral reform during the early 20th century